Updating An Existing EDSCLS Instance | National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE)

Below are instructions to assist system administrators in updating their existing EDSCLS instance with the latest system and security updates, upgrades, and software patches if they wish to upgrade in place. With these instructions, system administrators can save time by keeping their existing database and configuration settings. Every other month the last version of the VM is scanned for security vulnerabilities and patched before reposting. These instructions guide advanced users through the same patching process without requiring a full download and reconfiguration of the new VM.

It is highly recommended that users take a full backup of their instance before running any updates to ensure they can roll back to a previously functional version if errors arise during the patching and update process.

For your reference, a PDF version of the instructions for updating the EDSCLS Virtual Machine is also available.

Instructions

Backup Existing Virtual Machine (VM)

Upgrade Existing Virtual Machine (VM)

1. Log into the VirtualBox VM

2. Create a new file, updateVM.sh, for the bash script below, using the commands:

2.1 Sudo nano /home/adminuser/updateVM.sh

2.2 Copy the contents of the script into the file:

#!/bin/bash

# Script to be run within the EDSCLS VM
# Helps the updated VM

echo "Get list of updates needed"
currentDate=$(date +%F)
sudo apt-get update -y | tee update_log_$currentDate.txt
echo "Get list of upgrades needed"
sudo apt-get upgrade -y | tee -a update_log_$currentDate.txt
echo "Update Ubuntu server -- distribution upgrade"
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y | tee -a update_log_$currentDate.txt
echo "Remove any old versions of items that are no longer needed"
sudo apt autoremove --purge | tee -a update_log_$currentDate.txt

2.3 Save the file

3. Grant execute permissions to the script using the command:

Chmod 700 updateVM.sh

4. Run the bash script by using the command, ./updateVM.sh, in the Terminal window

4.1 All updates and upgrades save the output to a log file, named based on the current date: update_log_20220430.txt

4.2 Review the log files to ensure the updates were run successfully.

5. Patching is complete.

6. Open Chromium and navigate to localhost to test the site and confirm everything is working as expected.

7. Reboot the Virtual Machine to ensure all updates are properly processed

8. OPTIONAL: If desired, the logs can be cleared out for a clean start with your newly updated version. If you wish to clear the log files:

8.1 Reopen a Terminal window

8.2 Navigate to the log folder:

cd /var/log

8.3 Clear the logs using the below bash script, using the commands:

8.3.1 Sudo nano /home/adminuser/clearLogs.sh

8.3.2 Copy the contents of the script into the file:

#!/bin/bash

echo "Clear logs"
cd /var/log
sudo rm -rf *.gz
sudo rm -rf *.log.1
sudo rm -rf */*.gz
sudo rm -rf */*.log.1
echo "Logs cleared"

8.3.3 Save the file

8.3.4 Grant execute permissions to the script using the command:

Chmod 700 clearLogs.sh

8.3.5. Run the bash script by using the command, ./clearLogs.sh, in the Terminal window

Restore Backup